Big difference between a couple of ales and rolling around on the floor shitfaced unable to find your kit. I'll never understand how the difference between sensible moderation and unnecessary excess gets completely lost every time this topic comes up.

Amen Pocket. I was waiting for a sensible person to chime in here. Apparently most of the people here live in a world of staunch dichotimies with it comes the the bacchanalian activities.

...Sorry, I wanted to use big words too. You English have a colorful way of speaking.

I figure I'm not impeded by 2 beers before a gig, I do like my sauce and there really isn't a noticible impact on my motor skills. I draw the line at 2 before playing though as I tend to drag when I start feeling it. Played a copule of gigs actually drunk, had the opportunity to watch the tape of one. We were on and the crown was loving us, I even remember a random stranger bought me a beer and brought it up to the stage for me. My timing on the other hand was all over the place. Fun night but not something I'd try again.

If a person thinks their band is sounding good, and later a recording proves otherwise....That person's perception of what is really going on needs major attention. In other words if a person can't hear that it's bad right as it's happening, that person is in the act of sonic-ly deluding themselves somehow. Not good, and really should have nothing to do with how high they are. When it's sounding bad, a good musician should know it, no matter what substance they imbibed.

__________________
The best way to do art, is to dispense with good and bad...and just get on with it.

I don't think open drinking on stage is very professional looking, if you must drink, at least try and make it not obvious.

I have one of those clamp on drink holders on my crash's stand. I usually get a beer and nurse it through the shows. I don't think I've ever been accused of being professional appearing, though, so perhaps it's just assumed I won't be.

We played a string of winery and wine-bar shows... Those people won't let you not drink. It's like insulting them if you don't accept whatever fancy thing they pour for you without your asking.

At any rate, I'm very serious about not getting too drunk for gigs. I think more than anything a few drinks will really throw off someone's sense of music in real time. Even if they can still play well after drinking, it puts them more in their own space and I find they tend to listen a bit less to everyone else and focus on their own stuff.

When it's sounding bad, a good musician should know it, no matter what substance they imbibed.

Ideally, but there is a mental game that we play with music - you have to be confident as a drummer. No ifs or buts. If the drums aren't confident then it distracts the entire band. But what if your playing is stinky and yet you need to remain confident? Obviously, if your head is on straight, you just take subtle corrective action.

However, there are times when I'm getting worried looks from the band that suggest that I'm sucking (when I'm "on" they pretty well ignore me), but I feel like can't let negativity get in my head and make me second guess myself so I try to bully and bluff my way through. Sometimes in that headspace I have so much nonsense in my mind that I cannot shut it down, even though I really want to, and deep down I know I'm not grooving right but I can't break the negative momentum.

So I simplify to a point where I hope I can catch the threads and but sometimes I never manage it. Recordings afterwards tell me that that little voice saying "you suck" that I was trying to ignore was the truth. Often I think I've sucked and the playback is right on.

Yet it's all so simple ... there's the time, now just play what you've done 1000 times before ... so simple ... yet sometimes trying to focus is like grabbing a bar of soap in the bath. It's been the same deal for the last 38 years of playing :( The dynamic is state dependent - straight, drink, smoke make almost no difference to this ... If I'm on, I'm on. If not, nothing seems to help.

Bottom line is some days my ears are better than others. Some days I hear lots, some days I hear diddly. Not sure if there's some ADHD mess involved in all that or if it happens to everyone and it's just a matter of degree.

I played with a guitarist who was previously in a very progressive and technically challenging band. Apparently the drummer would end every practice totally wasted but he only played drums while drunk so he actually would nail the parts.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.

As for me, I can't play any instruments if I've drank enough to feel even small effects. It just doesn't work at all. I save the beer for after the show.

You'd need to determine whether or not you really do play better after a drinkette. If you do then it seems perfectly possible to me that you should be more relaxed and not at the mercy of your conscious mind. I can't see how alcohol would do that without impairing your motor skills and ear, though.

I wondered if there was a tie in between this and another thread thats running about conscious and unconscious minds?

Is it at all possible that I really do play/practice a little better after a drink because it relaxes/switches off my conscious efforts to play better?

Or am I way off the mark?

Just to reiterate; I do not, nor have I ever, had a drink (alcohol) when gigging. This thread was about my practice time at home

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonny Sumo

I wondered if there was a tie in between this and another thread thats running about conscious and unconscious minds?

Is it at all possible that I really do play/practice a little better after a drink because it relaxes/switches off my conscious efforts to play better?

Johnny, I'd guess that you're way on the mark. Not just playing music. When you feel like you're enveloped in a pink cloud of fairy floss your critical faculty is likely to be a tad less sharp. So rather than critiquing (and tempering) your performance with overdone steering controls you just get out there an do it. Same with socialisating, which is another performance art in a way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magenta

You'd need to determine whether or not you really do play better after a drinkette. If you do then it seems perfectly possible to me that you should be more relaxed and not at the mercy of your conscious mind. I can't see how alcohol would do that without impairing your motor skills and ear, though.

There is the leverage point - do you need more more courage and relaxation or more motor skill coordination at the time?

It can work in other ways. Had a gig yesterday arvo. Had felt nauseous and tired all day. As often happens, the playing made me feel somewhat better but during our break our singer brought me a shot of scotch as a pick-me-up. I felt much better afterwards and the second set went extremely well with two encores and would have had a third but the guitarist's top E snapped during Sunshine of Your Love.

No doubt the scotch affected my coodination but it was so mild that I didn't notice those effects, just the soothing ones. I guess that's why grandmothers living to 100 (back when it was rare) seemed to always say when asked about their secret that they took a shot of hard spirits before bed. The stuff (like almost every "evil" drug) is medicine when it's not overdone.

Sounds like you already know the answer yourself. You sound better to yourself because you're intoxicated... when in fact you're more sloppy.

Work on relaxing your mind without it.

I would never wanna drink for courage , nervous feeling on stage is the best kick and a huge reason why I drum.

I will however do drunken drumming for my own enjoyment for fun occasionally just like I play drunken poker occasionally for fun. Would never drink when it's in a professional situation though, poker or drums.

Yeah, but that is waaay different from having a little drinkette in your own home when you're just practising by yourself.

A drinkette! I like that! Sounds like something effeminately elegant, with a mint leaf in a short thin glass ...

I prefer a a beer which I begin to sip 15 minutes before a gig, and nurse it through the entire set. Then a couple of whiskey's later, its time to kiss all the girls goodnight, pack my gear and head back home like a good boy.

This is Kenny, enfant terrible of the downtown NY scene, a phenom in many styles of drumming. Amazing player.

The thread topic "Better after a drink double question mark" suggests you have doubts it is indeed better.

If you've ever been to a party where everybody is drinking and one guy isn't, you'll notice that one guy isn't fitting in as well as everybody else. You should be that one guy in a drunken crowd, imo.

As far as drinking when you practice, I think it's a great idea if it helps make you feel like you are more relaxed. Drumming is supposed to be fun and I don't see how a nice tumbler of wine could detract from the experience.

The danger, as I mentioned, is falling into a nasty habit where one drink leads to another and... We all know how it sucks to be at a gig where the guys on stage are drunker than everybody in the crowd. They're having an AWESOME time, but it just sucks for everyone in the crowd.

__________________"... As war machine, crushes their balls, God have mercy..."

Played a couple of gigs actually drunk, had the opportunity to watch the tape of one. We were on and the crowd was loving us, I even remember a random stranger bought me a beer and brought it up to the stage for me. My timing on the other hand was all over the place. Fun night, but not something I'd try again.

I had a fine shine going the other night (3 or 4 beers) - a good song was on the radio so grabbed sticks and throne and went to town. I was in the zone, so promised myself I'd record my performance the next time I was "shining." That night came - again, I was in the zone and just going with the flow. It was perfect!

Next day, the playback was awful - my chops seemed OK, but my time was terrible - slow, then catching up, missing accents, etc. As a control, I turned on the radio and recorded my playing for a few songs without the affluence of incohol. While I felt tentative and realized EVERY little screw-up, my time was good and screw-ups were minor.

I don't ever drive if I've had a drink. I might have literally a sip of Mr Madge's drink, but absolutely nothing more than that. If I don't trust myself to drive, which requires gross motor skills, there's nothing down for the fine motor skills, let alone the judgement. Admittedly, I'm less likely to kill somebody when I'm sitting behind my kit, but you take my point!